Feeling Better

 I think I'm through the worse of this weird version of Covid I have but still have a ways to go.   The neurological issues I have are just making this worse.

I'll try to blog a bit when I am not doing PT, OT or sleeping.

I hope everyone is doing ok.

Sluggy

A Quickie!

Today marks 2 weeks since I had my right knee replacement.  To say I feel better than I did on the day of surgery is an understatement! ;-)

I am finally at a point where I feel human again and like I will recover.  Today was Day Eight of PT(3 in Ohio/5 in Louisiana).  I also do exercises at home on weekends so I don't go 2 days without working things. I am off the blood thinner as of today(on baby aspirin now)and those danged portable compression things 24/7.  Boy is it hard to get comfortable in bed and sleep with them going off constantly and blowing up and deflating around my calves.  The noise from that can get deafening at night.  And not being able to get myself to the toilet has been loads of fun for Hubs too so he's slept even less than me.

And I can finally sleep through the night!  This is a BIG thing.  Sleeping on my back is so foreign to me but I can dose off in that position for awhile.  I am a stomach sleeper so once Hubs could roll me to my side and I could tip myself over into my front I sure felt a lot better and got quality sleep.

Nothing keeps you from feeling your best(or at least human)like not being able to sleep.

Today I was able to get myself out of bed by myself and get to the bathroom AND I can get both my legs up back on the bed to get back in bed.  You don't realize how much little things like moving just a bit are so hard after surgery.

My surgical glue is beginning to fall off too so I'm keeping the incision covered except for showering so I don't get an urge to start picking it off and helping it along. lol

I am still tired, especially on days I have to go to PT plus have other doctor appointments.  I had a wound check last week and an appointment with the new PCP this past Monday.  

My PT place is very small without a lot of bells and whistles like the PT attached to the surgeon's facility in Ohio.  It doesn't have all the fancy machines nor the big sports team's type icing machines(boy, I could use those some days!)but we are getting back to normal.

I've lost a total of 53 lbs. since before the cruise in May.  I had planned to "on purpose" loose another 20 lbs. after surgery so I have another 17 more to go to reach that goal.  That, along with PT should keep me busy for some time to come.

Thanks for everyone chiming in with their knee replacement experiences.  It does help keep me motivated and on track that this isn't all there is and that things will get back to "normal" one day.  I do still need that $&*^#&$ walker for stabilization so that may be awhile before I can ditch that.  I have learned to dislike our master bathroom as it has a separate "potty room" with the toilet in it.  The walker won't fit in that doorway so I get to practice "crab walking" sideways into that cubicle where my nose almost touched the door frame as I sidle in.  Boy, is that fun.....*snort*.

I will be so grateful once I can walk into a store again or even ride one of those danged scooters around the store.  Sitting home is so lonely(well it's been noisy the last 2 days as the handymen were here working in the kitchen-between saws and barking dogs)and I can only watch so many bad Halloween type movies on the local tv station. 8-)

Sluggy

Successful Weekend

I'm feeling a bit better today(Sunday).
If the foot continues to improve(being able to put weight on it)it is looking like we'll get to the Baker/Vassar Family Reunion 2013 next Saturday.
Now I just have to get copies made of some photos I want to bring with me.  Photos I need help identifying persons pictured on them.  Plus a photo of the old home place that I don't believe anyone else has seen(or has in their possession).

We needed to get 2 things crossed off the "To Do" List this weekend.
#1 was to finish getting all the coats of paint on the baseboard moulding strips.
And that one got crossed off this afternoon when Hubs finished the quarter round strips.

We are now set for the workmen to come back a week from tomorrow(Monday)and cut/install all the crown and baseboard mouldings.
Then to touch up the wall paint we redid and we are ready to decorate, buy furniture and hang curtains.

#2 on the list had to be completed this weekend, because next weekend we can't do this project, and by the following weekend(in October), it would just be too late for the task.

The project is to make and can my Family Secret Pepper Relish Recipe.
It calls for lots and lots of red bell peppers and if you end up having to purchase those at the grocery store it's ridiculously expensive!  So I only make this relish if I can get red bells for cheap, which means either growing them yourself(I've never been able to grow enough of them successfully in a season to have enough to make a batch of the relish)or you can buy them straight from a farmer.  I know of one local farm that grows this variety and they ripen in early September here so you have to time your relish making with the short window of ripe opportunity.  And you have to hope other farm stand customers don't buy them all before you get there!

This window of time is usually the 2-4th weekend of September.
This weekend was weekend #3 so prime season.
So we hit the farm stand yesterday.

 The little pumpkins were already out in bins. In a week or two their Pumpkin Patch will be in full swing.  I hope to get back for pumpkins in October.  I don't have room for lots of puree in my freezer but I can get a few gourds.....

Here is an artsy shot I took....

A close-up of a bin of larger pumpkins.  I may be the whitest woman on Earth but those albinos are the whitest pumpkins on Earth.......snort

And for Tanner, a photo of her farm "buddy"......I know you miss her......lol

I didn't want a shot of these people but they just kept getting in my way, both while trying to get photos of the critters and while trying to get veggies at the stand.  Honestly, they were obviously "city slickers" and I could have sworn from the way they talked and the way they acted that they were from New York or Jersey(sorry if you are from NY or NJ).  They were obnoxious, pushy and acted like they were the center of the universe.  You know, the stereotypical "goombah"....

Was I surprised that when we left I noticed that their car at PA plates. lol  Obviously transplants.  How I wish they'd "go home".  We don't need behavior like this in PA(got enough of it already).  NYers who know how to behave in public are appreciated and welcomed. 8-)

 

Another shot of one of Tanner's "stubborn" buddies scratching an itch on the fence......

And a gratuitous chicken porn shot for Linda .......I swear this chicken refused to show her face.  Every time I hoisted the camera to my face, she turned her backend to me.  Is this how a chicken gives "the finger"? lolz

A  shot on the way home of the now clear cut cornfields.   Corn season is long gone......sniff......

Saturday afternoon I began the relish making process.

Some of the spoils of our farm stand excursion........

We got 26 peppers(a combination of green and red and many that were both green and red)for $6.00
And these were BIG peppers, not the tiny things you get in the grocery store.  Peppers here run regularly $3.49 or higher per lb.  Even on sale at .99¢ per lb. these peppers would have costs me $26.00!  Holy bell pepper Batman, that's way too much to spend on only 1 ingredient for relish!!

 

Prepping the veggies.......

After going through the food processor and a good deal of hand chopping by moi we got this......

After salting and draining and making the sauce we jarred the relish up and put them into the canner.....

And after 30 minutes of boiling(x 3 since w couldn't fit all the jars in), we ended up with this......

We got 308 ounces of relish, or 2 gallons, 1 quart, 1 pint and 4 ounces.  8-)

All told 308 ounces of relish cost me $15.75 for the ingredients(not counting any jars I had to buy).

Peppers             $6
Onions              $4
Sugar                $3
Secret Ingredient  FREE ;-)
Vinegar           .75¢
Mustard Seeds  $1
Celery Seeds     $1

That comes out to approx. .61¢ per 12 oz. jar.
Add another .67¢ for the jar if I had to buy it.

A good price for something homemade.

My sister in-law is addicted to this stuff.  She puts it in/on everything and even eats it out of the jar with a spoon.
I should rename this stuff  "Crack Relish".   lolz

I'm calling the weekend a success since we got both of our Projects completed.

So what's on your plate this weekend?

Sluggy